Thorns
by Solis Knight
Summary: Even perfection has its faults. There can be no life without death. No win without loss. Everything that goes up must come down. There can be no beauty without ugly. Every rose has its thorns. A dark twist on Sonic and Amy's relationship. Oneshot.


Thorns

**Author's notes: Alright! This story took longer to write than you'd think, considering the fact that it was so short. I had to read it more than I would have liked. My comments will be kept up here, instead of at the end, because I want the ending to be important.**

**So, to all of my fans… Here's something new. **

**This story is dedicated to all of the SonAmy fans out there who are tired of the mundane. Maybe after this you'll understand… even a perfect rose has its thorns.**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Sonic Franchise. In fact, I'm not even sure SEGA owns it anymore… So, I'll keep writing about it anyway. No suing, lest ye be sued in return. Such is the law of Karma. Comprendes?

"Hey Amy… Where are ya takin' me?" Sonic called out in the midst of being forcefully dragged along behind his overeager companion. When she had asked him to accompany her two hours ago, he had assumed that he would be _walking _with her to this date. _Dragging_ was never part of the deal. After having spent the last half hour within Amy's death grip, he was beginning to think that the idea was not to go on a date, but rather to tear his arm off instead.

"It's a S-E-C-R-E-T! You'll see when we get there!"She replied back to him. Her pace was so frantic as she pulled him along, the scenery they passed became merely a blur. The citizens of Station Square didn't seem to mind the fact that she was knocking half of them over in her haste to be away. Perhaps some had seen the same zeal before in their own lives, or perhaps they were so absorbed in said lives that such distractions meant little to them. Either way, the crowd was hardly a Red Sea for them to part and pass through, but pass through it they did.

The buildings on either side of them were tall and featureless in the darkness of the night. A solitary yellow glare might appear in a window here or there, but most _sane_ people were in bed at this hour of night. So, of course Amy Rose would be out and about. After many minutes more of dragging and being dragged, Sonic finally caught his balance and could actually start walking. Well… walking would be a poor way to describe it. The breakneck pace with which Amy was moving could only be described as a sprint to passerby, albeit only as a light jog to one of Sonic's speed. However, he played his part and "walked" just behind Amy, waiting until she would eventually end the charade and tell him where they were going. Left, right, left, straight, U turn, Sonic eventually lost track of the twists and turns they took through the Square, until finally he was convinced that Amy was lost. He was about to point it out when he noticed something familiar: the hotel; the seaside resort where he had spent many a hot summer's afternoon.

"So you're taking me to the beach?" Sonic called again in realization. Amy said nothing, but thankfully slowed her pace instead. Finally they could talk freely without the rush of wind in their faces. As he pulled up next to her, he noticed that Amy showed no signs of exhaustion from the long run. Sonic himself was aching all over, but that was probably from the dragging. They walked in silence as they approached their destination, all the while Sonic waiting for Amy to explain what they were doing. After a few steps, he felt her hand grasp his, but he made no move to jerk it away. Despite the painful dragging across the city, he had long since stopped thinking of her as an annoyance… she was his friend. Thinking back, he wondered why he kept running away in the first place…

"Beautiful night…" Amy muttered, breaking Sonic out of his daydreams. He nodded. "Yeah… The stars are out and everything." Amy followed his eyes up to the sky, where a few stars had begun to appear, despite the glare of the city that normally outshined them. Luckily, he thought, the beach was relatively sheltered from the sleepless city, and the stars were clearly visible.

The two didn't even notice as the sliding glass doors parted for them, as if on command… Sonic had always felt as if he were in charge when he went through them. It was only when the night backdrop abruptly changed into ceiling tile that they noticed where they were. In any case, it was only a few seconds later that they were outside once more, next to the hotel's pool. The sunbathing girls that had usually littered the place were gone at this hour of night, making the pool seem desolate… almost enchanting. The water gave off an eerie glow from the lights hidden in the stone.

The pair stopped. Sonic turned to Amy, his back to the pool. She smiled, and he returned one. Apparently, they had reached their destination. He opened his mouth to ask what they were doing…

…when suddenly Amy's hands shot out and pushed him back. Sonic fell backwards headfirst into the frigid water, a giant splash following after. Amy's muffled laughter could be heard easily under the surface as he sank to the depths. In any normal circumstance, submersion would be fatal to the cobalt hedgehog, but both knew that it was a pool, and pools were meant to be gotten out of. Suddenly, an idea sprung into his head, an idea of revenge. Sonic smiled and lay still… waiting… waiting…

A few seconds later, the laughter stopped. "Sonic?" He heard her call. _Wait…_ he told himself. _Just a little bit longer._ "Sonic…?" Amy tried again, a tinge of apprehension entering her voice. Not a moment later, Sonic heard her dive into the pool, swimming frantically through the water to get to him. The devious hedgehog didn't move a muscle, not even his eyes gave away his prank. _Almost…_ he told himself. He could feel Amy swim closer and closer… Sonic remained still; until the moment he felt her hand touch his.

"Gotcha!" He sprung up, shouting as loud as he could. The noise, muffled though it was through the water, was still powerful enough to shock Amy senseless. Sonic honestly didn't think he could have done better, even on land. Laughing with what little oxygen he had left in his lungs, he leapt up out of the pool, ignoring any and all laws of physics pertaining to gravity, water resistance, and buoyancy. Amy followed soon after, only to find Sonic rolling on the ground in laughter. It was minutes before he finally got up to find a sopping wet Amy with _just a tinge_ of anger smoldering in her eyes.

Stifling yet another fit of laughter with a hand over his mouth, he apologized. "Sorry, Amy… couldn't help it. You were asking for it anyway." Grudgingly, Amy conceded the point. "Fine." She muttered, crossing her arms and looking away. Sonic knew better than to let her sulk for long, so he took a step forward. "Hey, c'mere." He said, placing his arms around her. "It was a joke, alright? I'm sorry." Sonic knew full well that Amy would be unable to continue her pouting in his arms, and he was right. One smile later, Amy returned the hug, water still dripping from both of their furs.

After what seemed like a lifetime, yet couldn't have been more than a few seconds, they released each other and continued their walk. Sonic's hand was still firmly in the grasp of Amy's, and its chances of escape were minimal. Sonic felt the tile beneath his sopping wet shoes turn into coarse sand shifting with every step. A breeze sprang up as they entered Emerald Coast, and his dripping fur picked up every shift in the wind. Luckily, it was a warm breeze, so the two didn't freeze to death.

As they walked, Sonic took the time to check out the beach without the usual crowd. Folding chairs were scattered all over the place, sitting forlornly on the sand without tourists to sit on them. Beach umbrellas cast a dark shadow in the pale moonlight, and the sound of the waves crashing on the beach was simply beautiful without the cacophony of mindless chatter. As much as he disliked the water, Sonic had to admit that the beach was a romantic place at night.

They walked for what must have been hours along the beach, holding hands and talking… Sonic had been right, the stars were so much clearer out on the beach. Once they reached the end of the coast, they just sat there and looked at them. Had the sun been up instead of the moon, Sonic might have realized they were sitting on the exact spot where Tails had crashed the Tornado a while back. It would have been obvious, had there been enough light to see the scorch marks on the ground. Finally, after a few minutes of watching the stars, Amy broke the perpetual silence.

"Sonic?" Sonic kept his gaze upon the sky as he responded. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for coming with me tonight." Sonic's face began to burn, and he was thankful that Amy hadn't taken her eyes off the sky either. "It was nothing…" he replied, modest as always. "I figured I owed you for running out on all of those other ones." Sonic rose from the ground as they both began to laugh. Turning around, he proffered his hand to pick Amy up. She grasped it with her usual iron grip, and he helped her to her feet. This was the most wonderful night he had had in… well, ever. Just him and Amy… alone… on the beach… and he wasn't drowning either. A perfect evening…

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw it coming: a metallic arm shooting out of the darkness towards them. There was no time to give a warning, no time to think, no time to run. Amy screamed as a robotic fist closed around her, ripping her away from Sonic as he desperately tried to hold onto her.

"Amy!" He shouted as she was torn from his arms, but his cries did nothing. The next thing he knew, his legs and arms had become immobile as another robotic hand ambushed him from behind. Sonic was bodily lifted off the ground, struggling to break free. His experience with Amy suggested that there would be no escape. Through the pale moonlight, Sonic could barely see his captor. After a few seconds he realized that both he and Amy had been captured by the same robot, one arm snaking around to grab Amy and distract him while the other waited to ambush him. Sonic growled in frustration as he blamed the only person who could have choreographed this capture.

"Eggman! Show yourself!" He shouted to the darkness, but the good doctor was nowhere to be found. It was infuriating to note that the Eggman had finally outsmarted him and couldn't even show up to watch it live. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Amy struggling just as fiercely as he was, but like him, she was unable to break free. Sonic sighed as his mechanical captor took the first steps of many toward Eggman's base of operations. It was going to be a long night.

After what seemed like an eternity of being dragged through the dark, the robot finally finished making its snail paced way back to its master's lair. He could tell that they had reached their destination thanks to the glowing neon Eggman logo nailed above the cave entrance. He would have laughed, had he been trying to find it instead of being carried there. Sonic stared dully at his surroundings as they descended through the cave down metallic steps. Evidence of drilling was visible where metal panels had been removed from the wall, and various wires and tubes were easily visible running up and down the relatively small passageway to the doctor's lair. He should have known by now that struggle was futile, but that didn't stop him from vainly trying to break free once more. He couldn't help but notice that Am had already resigned to her fate.

At the base of the stairs, the captives were carried into a large antechamber that reminded Sonic vaguely of a containment cell for lab experiments. The artificial light from the ceiling made it impossible for Sonic to see much of the room after being out in the dark for so long, but he strained his eyes to see what was in store for him. A metal disc was raised slightly in the middle of the room, and various sinister devices had their sights upon it. They vaguely resembled the old cheesy cartoon sketches of laser ray guns, but despite their cheesy look he could tell that Eggman had built them for function, not form. To the left of the raised platform, Sonic could barely see a circle indented into the metal floor. A tangled mess of wires led from it, which curiously seemed to lead to the laser guns. As his eyes adjusted to the glaring light, he began to make out a figure above the room… a figure he could not mistake.

The infamous Doctor Eggman stared back at him from atop his control platform, amusement splayed across his face. An assortment of control panels surrounded him, but the doctor ignored them. He only had eyes for his fresh meat. Sonic devoted all of his energy to glaring at his captor.

"Eggman," he spat out vehemently. "Your robots can't catch me in a fair fight, so you send them at night now? And I thought you could stoop no lower than taking girls as hostages. Looks like I was wrong." Sonic spat onto the floor. Eggman merely laughed in response, a pitiful laugh that was little more than a clichéd villain's trademark.

"Hardly, my brainless friend." Eggman replied to his insult. "You fell right into my trap, hook line and sinker." At this, the fat doctor pressed a button on one of his remote controls. Sonic looked to his left just in time to see Amy tumble out of the robot's grip, landing on the floor with a sickening thud. "Amy!" Sonic shouted, before returning his infuriated gaze to Eggman. "You'll pay for that!" The docto merely replied with a smug grin.

"Since you haven't figured it out yet, I guess I have to give you a little hint." Eggman laughed as he pressed yet another button on yet another control panel. Sonic felt the robot shudder before it began to drag him over to the large platform, leaving a motionless Amy behind. As the two reached their destination, the hedgehog was thrown unceremoniously down onto the dais. Shackles rose out of the metal as if on instinct to bind him.

"You can torture me all you want, Eggman! I'll never give in!" Sonic screamed to nothing in particular as he strained with all his might against his iron chains. No matter how many times his sharp spines dug into the metal, however, the shackles remained bound to his skin. Stymied, he resumed his glaring session as he waited for Eggman to commence the torture. It was interesting to note that the doctor pressed no button this time.

"Specimen 3A: Give Sonic a taste of my brilliance." Eggman quietly commanded. Sonic tensed as he waited for his robotic captor to shock him with a million volts. He shut his eyes tight as he waited for a flaming inferno to surround him or an immense hammer to flatten him into nothing. But the pain didn't come. Instead, a brief moment of hope as he heard Amy get up. He still had a chance… Whipping his head around, he was about to tell her to break his chains, to run for it, to do _something_… when he saw her moving toward the circle next to him. His jaw dropped.

"Amy, what are you doing?!" he gasped in horror, but she didn't so much as look at him. Staggering as if possessed, she stepped into the adjacent ring. Not a second later, the Chaos Emeralds appeared around her, just as they used to circle Sonic… what was only a few days seemed like so long ago now."Amy! Stop!" He tried one last time, tried to make her see sense, ignoring the doctor's ever loudening cries of laughter.

The emeralds began to glow. The machines above him began to hum with an ominous tone. The wires leading from Amy's ring glowed with a rainbow of colors as power rushed through them. It felt like an earthquake had engulfed the room as Eggman's devices fulfilled their master's insidious designs. Sonic dropped to his knees as more than a hundred million volts arced into his body from one of the machines overhead. He couldn't even feel his body hit the floor, couldn't feel himself thrashing erratically. He writhed in agony, a torture made even more brutal by the chains that bound him in place. Every hair on his body stood on end, every nerve ending blazed in an inferno. One never ending scream was torn from his lips as he lay writing, one word only.

_Amy!_

It was uncanny how his torture seemed to end just before he fell into sweet unconsciousness. Sonic merely lay there, limbs continuing to thrash despite the fact that the shocks had ended. The pain was only worsened by the fact that the first sound to be registered by his recovering brain was that of Eggman's uproarious laughter. Sonic's breath came in ragged gasps, his fur still a flaming inferno, yet there was only one thought on his mind. _Amy had betrayed him._ Eventually, the spasms began to recede, and other thoughts entered his consciousness. _How long had she been working for Eggman? Why was she working for him? Was he nothing to her?_ His already fractured mind reeled as each thought struggled to make itself heard at the same time, while his broken body struggled to move once more. The voices in his head were finally silenced by a new one as Eggman began to speak once more. Sonic was left with no other option than to listen.

"Seeing as how you're otherwise engaged, I guess I'll do your thinking for you. You see, Amy Rose here is my prized experiment, my crowning jewel. She is merely the latest in a long line of plans to destroy you that began with the first Metal Sonic!" Eggman paused to check Sonic's reaction. He merely lay there, immobile. He couldn't think anymore. He didn't want to. The doctor merely shrugged.

"After so many of my earlier creations failed, I realized that I'd never be able to beat you through strength alone. Metal Sonic was a complete failure, and the Tails Doll was pure evil, something that even _I_ was unable to control! Yet you still defeated it like it was nothing!" Eggman pounded his fist into his controls, yet somehow managed not to hit anything important. "That was when I realized that I needed something different… something new. I needed a woman's touch. Then it hit me!" Eggman chuckled, presumably reveling in his own brilliance. "It was so obvious! My previous creations failed to utilize your one weakness!" Eggman gestured to a silent Amy, although Sonic was too weak to turn his head and make sure.

"It took me a long time, but my efforts rewarded me with perfection! Instead of making you a new enemy… I made you a new friend." Sonic's mind reeled, all of his memories of Amy changing before his eyes. Suddenly everything made sense. Amy's stalking, the way she fought, the way she obsessed over him, everything simply clicked into place in an instant. Eggman saw it in his eyes: he understood. "That's right, Sonic! I created Amy Rose to be your perfect match! How does it feel to know that it was all a lie?"

Eggman was right. Sonic never understood before what heartbreak really meant, never saw it for what it truly was. The cobalt hedgehog found himself preferring the agony of torture to the pain he felt now. And it came with its own soundtrack: Eggman's laughter completed the ensemble perfectly. Pouring lemon juice and pure salt into the wound couldn't have done better to complement his pain. And Eggman couldn't just leave it at that, either. What was worth doing was worth overdoing.

"You know, you made me think I had failed once again in the beginning, Sonic. After all the times you ran away, I abandoned the project in favor of a new Metal Sonic. Imagine my surprise when you finally fell for her! I could hardly believe my eyes when my robot caught you on the coast, on your 'date', if it can really be called one!" Eggman chuckled at his brilliance, knowing full well that every word was five icy daggers stabbing into Sonic's heart. He should have known… he should have known when Amy had pushed him into the pool. Eggman had probably told her to kill him, and save him the trouble.

"So you see, Sonic…" _Sonic closed his eyes again, tears streaming down his face._

"Amy Rose never existed." _He wished he had died in that pool… he wouldn't have to feel this pain anymore._

"It has taken me so long to finally destroy you…" _If only Amy had let him drown…_

"…how ironic that Amy, the girl you love, will be your killer!" _If only she hadn't saved him…_

"Now, it's time to say goodbye!" _Wait! Amy had…_

"Goodbye, Sonic the-" Sonic opened his eyes in a flash.

"You're wrong, Eggman!" Sonic interrupted him as he pushed up from the floor weakly. His legs ached, every muscle burned as if it were on fire, but he was numb. He clung to that thought, his lifeline. Eggman pressed a button, and if he could have felt anything anymore he would have felt the million volts return. Instead, he continued to rise, lifting himself up by sheer will alone.

_No_, he thought. _Eggman didn't order Amy to push me into the pool._ A different Amy appeared in his mind: An Amy fighting tooth and nail with her hammer to save him from danger, an Amy throwing herself into danger to protect him. An Amy clawing desperately at the water to reach him before he drowned. _No_, he thought with every fiber of his being. _Eggman was wrong!_ A new thought rose unbidden from his subconscious.

_Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart._

Sonic was standing now, grinning even as lightning arced into his body from above. "Amy has to be real!" Sonic shouted. "Amy has a heart! She wouldn't have jumped in the pool to save me if she had no soul!" Eggman scoffed at the thought, refusing to believe that he had failed.

"A heart? A _heart_? Fine, if that's what you believe, then I'll be happy to prove you wrong! Subject 3A: Finish him!" The voltage doubled, tripled, and Sonic was forced to his knees once more. No amount of willpower could repress the pain he felt now. But that one thought kept him going, as he chanted it over and over in his mind. _Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart… Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart…_ An idea sprung to mind.

"Eggman!" Sonic screamed through the delirium known as pain. "If she doesn't have a heart… how can she use the Chaos Emeralds?" Eggman's cocky smile turned into shock as he realized that Sonic was right. Sonic felt the pain lessen as the doctor's commands lost their power over Amy. Pressing his advantage, the cobalt hedgehog stood once more, chanting aloud.

"The servers are the seven chaos! Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the chaos!" The chant echoed through the chamber as the electricity stopped flowing. Beside him, Amy fell to the ground. As if by instinct, the Emeralds moved to surround Sonic, and he felt their power course through him. The shackles shattered around his limbs as his fur began to glow golden. Finally free from his chains, he rose into the air.

"No… It's not possible!" Eggman gasped, but despite all of his planning… despite all of his precautions, all of his calculations… Despite having created the perfect specimen, Eggman was thwarted by one heart, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Super Sonic flew at Eggman's platform, attacking with a vicious kick. The supercharged shoe ripped through the doctor's precious controls like they were tissue paper. Eggman slammed a button on his chair, and then he was gone, shooting through an escape hatch in the ceiling. Immediately, alarms blared, the ceiling lights flashed red, and a synthesized voice came on over the loudspeaker. These overused symbols could only mean one thing: the base was about to detonate. Super Sonic was tempted to yell at the author for copying Metroid, but there was no time to waste.

The golden hedgehog spun around in midair, flying down as fast as he could to scoop up an unconscious Amy where she lay. He ignored the emeralds, deciding to leave the glowing gemstones on the floor. So he'd have to find them again… at least there would be an original concept for a game for once. Sonic dropped to the ground as he raced back to the only exit, and his golden form faded back to blue as he vaulted up the metal stairs. He ran faster once he noticed the walls glow a soft red. A wave of heat swallowed Sonic as explosions engulfed the base, creating a wall of flame that nearly engulfed them. Sonic was catapulted out of the corridor by the massive explosion, crashing into the soft grass like a flaming meteor, bouncing not once but twice until they finally rolled to a stop at a tree trunk. Exhausted, Sonic let Amy fall out of his arms onto the grass. Finally, he could rest... before he knew it, the darkness swallowed him.

Sonic awoke slowly as his brain struggled to force his broken body to respond. After minutes, he was finally able to sit up, groaning weakly as he did so. His body felt like it had been dipped in acid, he was bruised and burnt, but alive, and that was something. Next to him, he noticed Amy beginning to wake as well. His mouth became a desert as he struggled to make his voice work again. He needed to know if she was alright, needed to hear _something_… but as much as he needed the answer, he feared it.

"Amy?" He asked tentatively. No response. He gulped, placing an arm on her shoulder as he tried again. "Amy?" This time he got a response. She turned her head slowly, confused. Her voice was small and weak, but to Sonic it was stronger than a loudspeaker.

"Who's Amy? My name's Rosy."

Sonic's heart died again.


End file.
